Editing Codex (section)

{{Short description|Historical ancestor of the modern book}}
{{About|ancient and medieval books}}
[[File:Devil codex Gigas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The ''[[Codex Gigas]]'', 13th century, Bohemia]]

The '''codex''' ({{plural form}}: '''codices''' {{IPAc-en|'|k|oʊ|d|ɪ|s|iː|z}})<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Chambers Dictionary|publisher=Chambers|year=2003|isbn=0-550-10105-5|edition=9th|chapter=codex}}</ref> was the historical ancestor format of the modern [[book]]. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages [[Bookbinding|bound]] at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now reserved for older [[manuscript]] books, which mostly used sheets of [[vellum]], [[parchment]], or [[papyrus]], rather than [[paper]].<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 2nd ed.: Codex: "a manuscript volume"</ref>

By convention, the term is also used for any [[Aztec codex]] (although the earlier examples do not actually use the codex format), [[Maya codices]] and other [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] manuscripts. Library practices have led to many European manuscripts having "codex" as part of their usual name, as with the [[Codex Gigas]], while most do not.

Modern books are divided into [[paperback]] (or softback) and those bound with stiff boards, called [[hardback]]s.  Elaborate historical bindings are called [[treasure binding]]s.<ref>[[Michelle P. Brown]], ''Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts, revised: A Guide to Technical Terms'', 2018, Getty Publications, {{ISBN|1606065785}}, 9781606065785 [https://books.google.com/books?id=a4Z1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 p. 109].</ref>{{sfn|Lyons|2011|p=22}} At least in the Western world, the main alternative to the paged codex format for a long document was the continuous [[scroll]], which was the dominant form of document in the [[Ancient history|ancient world]]. Some codices are continuously folded like a [[concertina]], in particular the Maya codices and Aztec codices, which are actually long sheets of paper or animal skin folded into pages. In Japan, concertina-style codices made of paper and called [[orihon]] were developed during the [[Heian period]] (794–1185).<ref>{{cite web |title=CBAA the Association for Book Art Education - A HISTORY OF THE ACCORDION BOOK: PART II // Peter Thomas |url=https://www.collegebookart.org/bookarttheory/10634352 |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=www.collegebookart.org}}</ref>

The [[ancient Romans]] developed the form from [[wax tablet]]s. The gradual replacement of the scroll by the codex has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of the [[printing press]].<ref>{{harvnb|Roberts|Skeat|1983|p=1}}</ref> The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that has lasted ever since.{{sfn|Lyons|2011|p=8}} The spread of the codex is often associated with the rise of [[Christianity]], which early on adopted the format for the [[Bible]].<ref>{{harvnb|Roberts|Skeat|1983|pp=38–67}}</ref> First described in the 1st century of the Common Era, when the Roman poet [[Martial]] praised its convenient use, the codex achieved numerical parity with the scroll around 300 CE,<ref name=Oxf>"Codex" in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]]'', Oxford University Press, New York & Oxford, 1991, p. 473. {{ISBN|0195046528}}.</ref> and had completely replaced it throughout what was by then a Christianized [[Greco-Roman world]] by the 6th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Roberts|Skeat|1983|p=75}}</ref>